Journal box lid



June 7, 1960 G. F. COUCH JOURNAL BOXLID Filed May 2, 1955 FIG. 2

FIG. 4

Inventor: Glenn E Couch his Attorney FIG. 3

JOURNAL BOX LID Glenn F. Couch, Bergen, N.Y., assignor to Symington-Wayne Corporation, a corporation of Maryland Filed May 2, 1955, Ser. No.505,225 o Claims. (Cl. 3408-47) This invention relates to journal boxlids and has for its primary object the provision of an improvedconnection between the hood and cover of a so-called articulated lid.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved articulatedjournal box lid wherein the hood and cover are connected for limitedrelative universal movement by a bridge secured to the cover andstraddling a part of the hood, the bridge and straddled part of the hoodbeing of such construction and arrangement as to inhibit breakage oftheconnection under service shocks.

An additional-object of the invention is to provide an improvedconnection of the type described wherein the straddled part of the hoodhas an outwardly projecting ball portion adapted to be cupped in aninwardly opening socket in the bridge and the bridge except for thesocket is substantially flat, whereby the hood and cover are connectedfor limited relative universal movement without risk to breakage in theconnection.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved ball andsocket connection between the hood and cover of an articulated lidwhereby by forming the ball on a portion of the hood and the socket inan otherwise substantially flat bridge straddling the ball and securedto the cover, and recessing the hood to accommodate limited universalangling movement of the ballcarrying portion of the hood, points ofpotential failure in the bridge are eliminated and the connection ismade at least as impervious to service shocks as are the hood and cover.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter inthe detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the improvedarticulated lid of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the lines 2-2 ofFigure 1;

Figure 3 is an end elevational view taken partly in horizontal sectionalong the lines 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the lines4-4 of Figure l; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the lid of Figure 1 with portionsbroken away to more clearly illustrate certain of the details ofconstruction.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts, the improved articulated journal boxlid of the present invention is adapted to be applied to a journal box 1for closing an access opening 2 therein and is comprised of a hood 3 anda cover or closure member 4, the hood being pivotally connectable to thehinge lug 5 of the journal box 1 through the usual hinge pin 6 and thecover 4 seating against the face 7 of the journal box about the accessopening 2. Connected to the journal box through the hood 3, the cover 4is designed to be pressed against the journal box, when in closedposition, to seal the access opening 2 'nited States Patent ice againstdust or other foreign matter. The necessary force is here supplied by atorsion spring 8 of the type generally employed in articulated lids. Asusual in such applications, the spring 8 has its coils 9 seating againstthe underside of the hood 3, its closed end 10 carrying a roller 11adapted to bear against the hinge lug 5 and the spaced inturned ends 12of its lower extensions 13 normally bearing against the outer surface 14of the cover 4. In the disclosed embodiment, the outer end portions ofthe lower extensions 13 of the springs 8, including the inturned ends12, are contained in grooves 15 inset in the outer surface 14 of thecover 4 for fixing their lateral spacing as well as determining theirposition relative to the cover.

So that the cover 4 may seat itself uniformly against theopening-defining face 7 of the journal box, despite any deviation fromparallelism between the plane of that face and the axis of the hinge pin6, the cover 4 and hood 3 are connected or articulated for limitedrelative universal movement. In the particular form of connectionutilized in the lid of the present invention, there is formedsubstantially centrally in the outer surface 14 of the cover adepression or cavity 16, preferably substantially rectangular incross-section and onto opposite sides of which open the lower ends ofthe grooves 15 seating the lower extensions 13 of the spring 8. Receivedin or projecting into this depression or cavity 16 is a web 17 whichconveniently may be formed integrally with .and connects the pair oftransversely spaced legs 18 into which the lower portion of the hood issplit or bifurcated. Forming the central portion of the web 17 andfacing outwardly of the cover 4 is a ball or spherically convexprotuberance or surface 19 which seats in an inwardly facing,spherically concave socket or pocket 29 of corresponding dimension in abridge or strap 21, the latter being disposed or extending vertically ofthe cover 4 and straddling both the web 17 and the depression 16. Aswill be noted in Figure 3, the ball 19 preferably is relieved as at 19aover its top or mid-portion, so as to have surface engagement with thesocket 20 only over its side portions and thus be wedged into andmaintain its surface contact with the socket as their engaging surfaceswear under service shocks. Fitting or disposed in the opening 22 betweenthe spaced legs 18 of the hood 3, the bridge preferably is elongatedvertically and substantially rectangular in outline and its end portionsor arms 23 are secured to the outer surface 14 of the cover beyond thedepression or cavity 16 by suitable means, such as the illustratedinduction welds 24.

It will be noted that the cavity 16 into which the web 17 projects, isof sufficient cross-section and depth relative to the web to contain oraccommodate the latter, except for its ball 19, over a considerablerange of relative universal movement between the web and the cover. Thisin turn permits the bridge 21 to be substantially flat or planar, exceptfor its socket 20, without interfering either with the bearing of itsarms 23 against the outer surface of the cover or the limited universalangling between the hood and cover permitted by the ball and socketconnection between the bridge 21 and the web 17.

The flatness of the bridge, coupled with the inward facing of its socket20, is of extreme importance in the permanency of the connection betweenthe hood and cover. The lack of bends in the arms beyond the socketautomatically eliminates any point of weakness in this portion of thebridge. Of at least equal importance, the inward facing of the socketsubjects its periphery 25, where it approaches the plane of or joins thearms 23, to compression under the outward force applied to the ball 19by the spring 8, rather than the tension to which it would be subjectedwere the ball and socket facing in the opposite direction. As aconsequence, the connection is greatly strengthened and the outwardforce on the bridge 3 member, which could be critical if tensile,particularly over the areas at opposite sides of the socket, is wellwithin its compressive limits.

With points of potential failure in the bridge eliminated and thesecuring means, especially if the preferred induction weld 24, at leastas strong as the other parts of the connection, there is provided, anarticulated lid of greatly extended life over those heretofore employed.It should be understood that the described and disclosed embodiment ismerely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications areintended to be included which do not depart from either the spirit ofthe invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a journal box lid, the combination with a hood having spaced legsand a cover, of a cavity in an outer surface of said cover, a webconnecting said legs and projecting into said cavity, an outwardlyfacing ball on said web, and a bridge having a socket overlying andreceiving said ball and a pair of substantially flat arms extendingtherefrom and secured to said cover on opposite sides of said cavity.

2. In a journal box lid, the combination with a hood having spaced legsand a cover, of a substantially central cavity in an outer face of saidcover, a Web connecting said legs and projecting into said cavity, aspherically con- Vex surface on said web, and a bridge disposed betweensaid legs and secured to said cover at opposite sides of said cavity,said bridge having a spherically concave pocket overlying and receivingsaid convex surface for limited universal movement between said hood,and cover, said bridge except for said socket being substantially fiat,

3. In a journal box lid, the combination with a hood having spaced legsand a cover of a cavity in and positioned substantially centrally of anouter surface of said cover, a web connecting said legs and projectinginto and normally spaced from walls of said cavity, a spherically convexprotuberance on said web, an elongated bridge extending between saidlegs, said bridge straddling said web and cavity and having end portionssecured to the outer surface of said cover beyond opposite sides of saidcavity, and an inwardly facing spherically concave socket centrally inan outer face of said cover, grooves in said outer face and openingontosa'id cavity and receiving and positioning said extensionsv of saidspring relative to said cover, a web connecting said extensions andprojecting into said cavity, an outwardly facing ball on said web, abridge straddling said cavity and welded on opposite sides thereof tosaid cover, and an inwardly facing socket in said bridge and overlyingandreceiving said ball for limited relative universal movement betweensaid hood and cover, said bridge except for said socket beingsubstantially flat.

5. In a journal box lid, the combination with a hood having spaced legs,a cover and a torsion spring bearing against said hood and cover, of aweb connecting said legs, an outwardly facing ball on said web, and abridge straddling said web and secured on opposite sides thereof to saidcover, said bridge intermediate its ends having an inwardly facingsocket overlying and receiving said ball.

6. In a journal box lid, the combination with a hood having spaced legs,a cover and a torsion spring bearing against said hood and cover, of aweb connecting said legs, an outwardly facing truncated ball on saidweb, and

abridge straddling said web and secured on opposite sides thereof tosaid cover, said bridge intermediate its ends having an inwardly facingsocket overlying and receiving said ball.

References Cited in the, file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS DoreyDec. 28, 1954

